Afghanistan - May 3, 2012 - 17:23

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, held a press conference in Kabul to discuss the security pact signed by Karzai and US President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Thursday's press conference comes two days after the signing of a strategic partnership agreement between the two nations and an attack on a housing compound for Westerners in the Afghan capital.

At the press conference, broadcast on national media outlet, RTA, the Afghan president said the central-Asian nation signed the strategic agreement because "Afghanistan must be inviolable from military raids on homes and villages conducted under the name of fighting against terrorism".

Karzai went on to say that the war on terror is not in Afghan villages, and whether the United States carries out its anti-terror efforts through diplomacy or force is up to the US itself.

Asked about the presidential elections currently scheduled to take place before May 2014, Karzai said he would not pursue candidacy as he is neither eligible according to the Afghan constitution, nor does he have any interest in pursuing a third term.